What makes a performance?

Thursday

Dec 31, 2009 at 12:01 AMDec 31, 2009 at 3:01 AM

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Hollywood Elsewhere blogger Jeff Wells, who seems to think that James Cameron's AVATAR is the best thing since computer-generated sliced bread, makes the bold (though not necessarily wrong) claim that actress Zoe Saldana deserves a Best Actress nod for her role in AVATAR. A role, mind you, she plays via "performance capture" (Cameron's term) technology.

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Sez Wells:

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"I've been feeling more and more persuaded over the last couple of weeks that Zoe Saldana deserves a Best Actress nomination for her motion-capture performance as Neytiri in AVATAR. In the manner of a silent-film actress Saldana's emoting is necessarily broad, and I understand the uninformed suspicion that it's not she who deserves the credit as much as the motion-capture tweaks that fine-tuned her performance, but my heart knows what it feels. Saldana got me."

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I haven't seen AVATAR yet -- sue me. I have a four-year-old at home -- so I can't judge Saldana's performance, but I think you have to grade on a curve for motion capture creations, where any part of an actor's work can be tweaked in post-production. On the other hand, there's nothing to say that, given current technology, any performance can't be tweaked after it's been filmed.

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To his credit, Wells had this to say about another motion-capture performance from five years ago:

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"And Andy Serkis' Kong performance doesn't play like any kind of "Gollum Kong" (which I fretted about a year and a half ago in this space), and in fact he creates something surprisingly life-like, or do I mean ape-like?"

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Personally, I would've liked to see Serkis get a nod for his KONG performance, especially after watching the making-of features on the DVD. It was a genuine performance, with director Peter Jackson basing Kong's movements and expressions on Serkis' work, and, what's more, Serkis actually acted (on stilts, yet!) with co-star Naomi Watts during their scenes together, and he gave him plenty of credit for helping her (excellent) performance. Jackson's KING KONG had its faults (like that awful, awkward dinosaur chase and the too-long bug battle), but the central performances at the heart of the movie weren't just strong, they were genuinely Oscar worthy.

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In a decade or so, the debate over motion-capture performances will probably seem old fashioned. After all, was Lon Chaney less of an actor because he made the most of makeup?

will pfeifer

.

Hollywood Elsewhere blogger Jeff Wells, who seems to think that James Cameron's AVATAR is the best thing since computer-generated sliced bread, makes the bold (though not necessarily wrong) claim that actress Zoe Saldana deserves a Best Actress nod for her role in AVATAR. A role, mind you, she plays via "performance capture" (Cameron's term) technology.

.

.

Sez Wells:

.

"I've been feeling more and more persuaded over the last couple of weeks that Zoe Saldana deserves a Best Actress nomination for her motion-capture performance as Neytiri in AVATAR. In the manner of a silent-film actress Saldana's emoting is necessarily broad, and I understand the uninformed suspicion that it's not she who deserves the credit as much as the motion-capture tweaks that fine-tuned her performance, but my heart knows what it feels. Saldana got me."

.

I haven't seen AVATAR yet -- sue me. I have a four-year-old at home -- so I can't judge Saldana's performance, but I think you have to grade on a curve for motion capture creations, where any part of an actor's work can be tweaked in post-production. On the other hand, there's nothing to say that, given current technology, any performance can't be tweaked after it's been filmed.

.

To his credit, Wells had this to say about another motion-capture performance from five years ago:

.

"And Andy Serkis' Kong performance doesn't play like any kind of "Gollum Kong" (which I fretted about a year and a half ago in this space), and in fact he creates something surprisingly life-like, or do I mean ape-like?"

.

.

Personally, I would've liked to see Serkis get a nod for his KONG performance, especially after watching the making-of features on the DVD. It was a genuine performance, with director Peter Jackson basing Kong's movements and expressions on Serkis' work, and, what's more, Serkis actually acted (on stilts, yet!) with co-star Naomi Watts during their scenes together, and he gave him plenty of credit for helping her (excellent) performance. Jackson's KING KONG had its faults (like that awful, awkward dinosaur chase and the too-long bug battle), but the central performances at the heart of the movie weren't just strong, they were genuinely Oscar worthy.

.

In a decade or so, the debate over motion-capture performances will probably seem old fashioned. After all, was Lon Chaney less of an actor because he made the most of makeup?

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